In this section

10. THE ABBEY OF STONELEIGH

In the reign of Stephen a certain desert piece
of land called Radmore, in Cannock Chase,
Staffordshire, a mile south of Beaudesert, was
granted by the king to two devout hermits,
Clement and Hervey, and their companions,
together with certain land called Mellesho for
tillage and pasturing their cattle. Roger de
Clinton, bishop of Chester, confirmed these
grants and gave them liberty to betake themselves
to whatever regular life they preferred. This
band of hermits soon found, however, that their
devotions were disturbed by the foresters who
frequently rode that way, and humbly besought
the Empress Matilda to change their site.
Matilda, having a great affection for the Cistercian order, told them that if they would adopt
that rule their request should be granted.

Accordingly Radmore was changed into an
abbey, of which prior William, who ruled over
the hermits, was made the first abbot. Henry,
duke of Normandy, not only confirmed to them
Radmore with Mellesho and Wyrley for tillage
and Hednesford for pasture and pannage, with
liberty to build a church and a suitable conventual house, but also gave them the town of
Cannock with all its appurtenances and the mill
at Wyrley. Other benefactors came to their
help, such as Osbert de Ardern, who gave them
Merston, and William Croc, who bestowed on
them all his rights at Wyrley, to the intent he
might be received into their fraternity and obtain
burial amongst them. Geoffrey de Clinton and
Roger de Clinton, the bishop, were also among
the donors.

Shortly after this the new abbot and his
monks, only as yet imperfectly understanding the
Cistercian rule, requested Hamon, the second
abbot of the Worcestershire monastery of
Bordesley, to send two of his convent as instructors. From this circumstance great friendship
grew up between the two houses, the monks of
Bordesley always giving entertainment to those
of the other house when they had occasion to
visit their grange at Radway. They only tarried,
however, for twelve years at Radmore; for finding the foresters at Cannock not only troublesome but somewhat burdensome through their
frequent visits they petitioned Henry II on
19 December, 1154, the very day of his accession,
to be pleased to transfer them to his manor of
Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, and to accept of what
they had at Radmore in exchange for that place.

Their prayer was at once granted, and after
first trying another site, which was too close to
a highway, the monks settled at a place near the
confluence of the rivers Avon and Sow. The
foundation stone of their church was laid and
the churchyard consecrated by Walter Durdent,
bishop of Coventry, on 13 April, 1155, with the
assent of the prior and canons of Kenilworth, to
whom the parish church of Stoneleigh belonged.
The monks agreed not in any way to diminish
the rights of that church and to pay tithes to
Kenilworth for all land they should till within
the parish. In accordance with the general
Cistercian rule the monks of Stoneleigh had also
to obtain the sanction of the adjacent monastery
of Combe, the nearest one of the same order;
and an agreement was made in the presence of
the abbots of Waverley, Bordesley, and Merevale,
by which it was provided that if the Combe
convent desired at any time to erect any granges
or to change the site of their abbey, the brethren
of Stoneleigh were not to be entitled to raise any
objection. (fn. 1)

'At the time' says Dugdale
when this Monastery was so founded, there were in
the Mannour of Stoneley 68 villains, 4 Bordarii id est
Freeholders (Sic), and two Priests all of which held
xxx Carucates of land (as is exprest in Domesday book).
As also 4 Bondmen or servants whereof each held 1
mess, and one quartrone of land, by the services of
making the Gallows and hanging of Thieves, every one
of which Bondmen was to wear a red clout betwixt
his shoulders upon his upper garment, to plow twice
a year, to reap as oft; that is to say at the two Bederipes; to give aid to the Lord at the feast of St.
Michael to make the Lord's malt and do other servile
work.

In 1241 the monastery building suffered
severely from fire, and the king ordered the
sheriff of Warwickshire to deliver to the monks
forty oaks out of his woods at Kenilworth towards the repairs. (fn. 2)

In June, 1273, there was a suit in Chancery
between the abbot of Stoneleigh and Henry
Brome, when it was agreed that it should be left
to a jury of twelve men of the manor of Stoneleigh, chosen by the abbot and the defendant,
whether or not Henry ought to have the reasonable estover that he claimed to have in the
abbot's woods in Stoneleigh, and whether his
father, grandfather and great-grandfather were
wont to have such estover. Both parties bound
themselves to observe the finding of the inquisition. (fn. 3)

In 1284 Edward I granted the monks of
Stoneleigh a Thursday market and an annual
fair of eight days, extending through the octave
of the nativity of St. John Baptist. At the
same time they were granted free warren in
their manors of Echeles, Homegrange, Staverton,
Weethley, Stoneleigh, Melburn, Cralefeld, Bedindene, Horewell, Holinhill, Bericote, Cubbington,
Radway, Hege Grange, Hurst, Finham, and
Covele. They had also the fullest privileges on
their manors, such as goods of felons, tumbrel
and pillory, assize of bread and beer, &c. (fn. 4)

Two years later Thomas de Ardern granted
them the church of Ratley, and John de Mercote
lands in Ratley and Radway. (fn. 5)

On 16 April, 1286, licence was granted for
the alienation in mortmain to the abbot and
convent of divers small parcels of land in Stoneleigh and Cubbington, the gifts of no fewer than
twenty-nine donors. (fn. 6)

The temporal revenues of the abbey were
estimated in 1291 at the annual value of
£83 12s. 3d. and the appropriated church of
Radway at £1 6s. 8d. (fn. 7)

The bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, in
1378, gave his sanction to the appropriation to
this abbey of the rectory of Radway, Warwickshire, together with the advowson of the vicarage,
adding the unusual sanction of the vicarage being
held by one of the brethren of the house. (fn. 8)

In 1288 the abbey was subject to an outrage
by a number of persons unknown. They came
armed to the lands and tenements of the abbot
at Stoneleigh, set fire to his houses, burnt the
gatehouse, consumed goods, and hunted and took
away deer. (fn. 9)

In the Despenser disturbances of 1321, the
earl of Hereford, Sir Roger de Mortimer and
others entered the abbey of Stoneleigh, and
there broke open the coffers of Sir Hugh le
Despenser, which had been placed there for
security. According to Sir Hugh's statement
they carried away from these coffers £1,000 in
money, his charters, muniments and bonds,
together with gold and silver cups, and other vessels
of silver and jewels to the value of another
£1,000. (fn. 10)

In October, 1332, the abbot and convent
petitioned the crown to the effect that whereas
their house was founded by the king's progenitors
for the support of certain chantries for the souls
of them and their heirs, and held all its land in
free alms, it had nevertheless been charged with
the sustenance of Richard de Morton and
William de Foston by Edward II, by the procurement of Hugh le Despenser the younger,
whom the petitioners dared not gainsay, and that
as these now received daily from the house the
sustenance of two monks, the chantry could not
be duly supported so long as this charge remained. In reply, letters patent were issued
under the privy seal to the effect that they
should not be held to find the like for any other
after the deaths of Richard and William, but
should be quit of such burden for ever. (fn. 11) In
December of the same year, the abbey, by an
elaborate judgement of the deputy treasurer and
barons, was held quit of tallage. (fn. 12) Notwithstanding this definite assurance, on the death of
Richard de Morton, the abbey was directed to
receive Thomas Bulfote, 'messager,' and to give
him such maintenance as had been afforded to
Morton. (fn. 13) The application was refused. On
20 August the king issued a writ to the abbot
and convent to appear before him at the ensuing
Michaelmas to show cause for their disobedience.
The abbot attended in person at Auckland.
Adam de Fyncham on the part of the king
stated that he conveyed letters patent to
the abbot on Sunday after the nativity of St.
John Baptist, but the abbot paid no heed, whereupon fresh letters patent were sent on the
morrow of St. Peter ad Vincula renewing the
demand. The abbot still remained in contempt,
and Adam claimed 100 marks for the king, and
40 marks for the damage to Thomas Bulfote.
On producing the patent of October, 1332, in
court, judgement was at once given in the abbot's
favour. (fn. 14)

Little is known of the inner life of this
monastery, but the register, from which Dugdale
cited, relates that William de Gyldeford, the
ninth abbot, a man of singular wisdom, was made
penitentiary to Pandulf, the papal legate, and
was afterwards sent with legatine authority into
Wales. This promotion caused many superior
abbots to malign him. Having countenanced
the fighting of a duel by a shepherd belonging to
the monastery and the hanging of a cattle
stealer, such advantage was taken against him
that he was prosecuted for these offences and
deprived in the year 1235.

Under Prior Gyldeford's successor, Osbert de
Westwelle, there was much laxness of rule; in
1258 several of the monks wandered abroad and
the secular arm was invoked to apprehend and
deliver the offenders to their abbot for chastisement. (fn. 15) In that year, probably on account of
this breach of discipline, Abbot Osbert resigned.

The abbot received a mandate from Benedict XII in 1342 to execute the papal ordinances
touching apostates in the case of Thomas
Berchevile, monk of Merevale, who, having left
the Cistercian order, desired to be reconciled
thereto. (fn. 16)

Robert de Hockele, the sixteenth abbot, ruled
from 1310 to 1349. He died in the latter
year, in all probability of the plague. The old
register described him as sage and prudent; he
freed the house from many debts and was a great
builder. He caused the quire stalls to be renewed and the carved work under the steeple
(? the rood screen). He also rebuilt the east
end of the church and covered it with lead; this
alteration and the consequent moving of the high
altar necessitated a re-dedication. 'The gatehouse,' says Dugdale, in 1656, 'a fair and strong
building, and also one of his works, still
standeth.'

Thomas de Pipe, the compiler of the register,
became abbot as a young man in 1352. In
1364 he was summoned before the king's court
on a charge of alienating the property of his
abbey. An inquiry was made by twelve men
of the neighbourhood, who reported that the
abbot had granted land and rents in Finham to
Isabel de Beneshale, his concubine, and their
eldest son John to hold for their lives quit of
rent. Moreover, fearing to be deposed by the
visitors of his order, he had given the grange of
Melbourn, worth £20 yearly, to Adam de Stokke,
cook, and Roger de Cotes, to hold freely for the
support of himself and especially for the support
and maintenance of Isabel and the abbot's
children by her, who were more in number
than his monks. He was also said to have recovered lands from a tenant by means of a
deed forged at direction by one of his monks;
when the fraud was discovered he had regranted
the lands to the tenant at a much lower rate to
avoid an action, to the injury of his house.
The abbot, while not denying the relationship
between himself and Isabel, said that all the
grants were made subject to the payment of a
reasonable rent, and that there had been no
waste or fraudulent alienation, but the eventual
decision of the court is not known. (fn. 17)

The abbey was in great trouble in the spring
of 1380. A commission was issued in April to
Roger de Kirketon and three others to inquire
touching the names of certain malefactors who
had seized the seal of the abbey of Stoneleigh,
which had been taken into the late king's hands
and committed to the custody of John, duke of
Lancaster, on account of suits and controversies
between the abbot and his adversaries touching
his rights. These malefactors had used the seal
to demise certain manors and granges, and to
grant divers pensions. They had also seized
cattle, carried away books, chalices, vestments,
jewels, and other goods and committed divers
wastes. (fn. 18)

The Valor of 1535 returned the clear annual
value of this house at £151 3s. 1¼d. The ryebread, beer, and herrings distributed as a dole to
the poor on Maundy Thursday, by order of
the general chapter of Citeaux, cost £4 5s. 4d.
a year. The weekly distribution of bread and
beer at the gates also cost the abbey a further
annual sum of £5 7s. 8d. (fn. 19)

The commissioners of 1536 returned the
annual value of the abbey as £208 3s. 1½d.
They found eleven religious 'with the abbott
now and the abbott quondam'; nine were
priests, and two professed novices. They were
'all of good conversation and lyvyng and desyre
to contynew Religion in that house so ytt myght
stand with the Kynge his pleasure or else to be
sent to some other house of yt Religion.' There
were forty-six dependants, namely 15 yeoman
servants, 21 hinds, 2 dairy-women, 5 corrodians,
2 found of alms, and one having an annuity by
convent seal. The house was ruinous, but was
worth with bells and lead £214 19s. 4¾d. The
stocks, stores, and goods, were valued at
£173 15s. 3d. There were 548 scores of
wood. The debts of the house amounted to
£212 19s. 10½d. (fn. 20)

Thomas Tutbury, the abbot, obtained a pension of £23, (fn. 21) which he was still enjoying in
the year 1553. (fn. 22)

Immediately on its dissolution, the site and
demesnes were granted to Charles Brandon, duke
of Suffolk. (fn. 23)

Footnotes

1. The account of the foundation and early history
of the monastery is given in Dugdale's Warw. i,
255-6, taken from an old register of the abbey which
was then penes Thomas Leigh de Stonley, mil. et bar.